The Express Tribune reported that Mr Kemal Shoaib chairman of International Steels rang the opening bell at the Karachi Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning to mark the commencement of the company’s trading at the bourse.

The steel producing company made a stellar debut at the index as it gained more than five per cent and was the second most traded stock during the day.

Mr Kemal Shoaib said that International Steels will expand operations in the coming two years that will significantly reduce production costs.

Following the initial public offering, International Industries Limited management holds 55% stake while 45% is held by investors including Japanese companies JFE Steel Corporation and Sumitomo.

Mr Nadeem Naqvi MD of Karachi Stock Exchange said that two or three more initial public offerings will be witnessed in the second half of the year at the Karachi Stock Exchange. International Steels initial public offering was the first initial public offering of 2011.

Mr Naqvi while talking about the company said that the steel sector is lucrative as demand is more than supply in the country. The book building exercise of International Steels conducted in April received a huge response by institutions and high net worth individual investors as the bid volume came out to 150.8 million shares, 2.4 times more than the initial offer of 61.8 million shares. The strike price of the share was at PKR 14.06 per share against the offer price of PKR 12.9 per share.

(Sourced from the Express Tribune)